Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) Gets Standing Ovation on House Floor for Saying What Americans Say to Each Other Every Day

Jul 27, 2012

RUSH: I saw this last night. Congressman Mike Kelly, Pennsylvania Republican, got a standing ovation while he spoke in the House.

That doesn’t happen. No applause is allowed members of Congress. A president can go in there and, of course, they raise the roof. But the protocol does not permit applause, a standing ovation, or this kind of stuff during session. He got a standing ovation for what he said. There’s a visual here that I want you to have while you listen. He holds up a stack of papers. It’s 11,000 pages of lending requirements, and he’s on the warpath here about how regulation is killing jobs in his district.

It’s an amazing story. Someone built a ballpark in his district, a Little League ballpark, and federal regulators came in and wouldn’t open it. They wouldn’t allow it to open. On the day they were going to play the first game, the little kiddies are all there about to have their first baseball game, and the federal regulators said, “Nope, you can’t open it because the mirrors in the men’s room were a quarter of an inch too low on the wall.” We’ve broken this up into three sound bites. Here the first…

KELLY: We renovated a ballpark in my hometown. A guy named Tom Bernadowski — veteran — [spent a] couple million dollars to renovate our ballpark. The day we were gonna open up, I got a call at the dealership. It said, “Mike, would you come down?” I said, “Why? What’s going on?” He said, “We’re having trouble with the occupancy permit.” So I went down to see it. I said, “What’s the problem?” He said, “Well, here. Come in the men’s room. Let me show you what the problem is.” I said, “We have 1,500 people want to come see the opening ball game tonight.” “Yep, but we’ve got a major problem. You see the mirrors in the restroom are a quarter of an inch too low.”

HOUSE: (smattering of laughter)

KELLY: “So you can’t possibly open that ballpark!”

RUSH: Can’t possibly open it. Here’s the next bite…

KELLY: So you want to know the price of regulation? You want to talk about the thousands and thousands of pages that we put on the back of the job creators? You want to talk about creating jobs in America? When you want to see a nation that doesn’t want to participate but wants to dominate in the world market, then let them rise! Take the heavy boot off the throat of America’s job creators and let them breathe!

HOUSE: (cheers and applause)

KELLY: The jobs we are talking about are not red jobs or blue jobs. They are red, white, and blue jobs. They are not Democrat jobs or Republican jobs or independent jobs or Libertarian jobs. They are American jobs!

RUSH: You know what’s amazing to me about this is how infrequently stuff like this is said in the House of Representatives. This is so unique. Talking like this is apparently so unique — it doesn’t happen very often in the House of Representatives — that it gets applause, that it gets a standing ovation. One more sound bite.

KELLY: We are so out of touch with the American people. And you know what all this does? It adds layer after layer after layer of cost. And that cost is ultimately paid for by the American consumer. You want to have more revenues, then let the tide rise for all boats! Let us be able to not only survive, but to thrive. I urge all my colleagues, on both sides of the aisle. This is not a left or right issue. This is an American issue. I urge you to rise today and vote for HR-4078, and let’s let America get back to work! With that, I yield back.

HOUSE: (cheers and applause)

ACTING SPEAKER: (banging gavel)

HOUSE: USA! USA!

ACTING SPEAKER: (banging gavel)

HOUSE: USA! USA!

RUSH: He started out, there was a motion to recommit. He said, “This is ridiculous! This is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen.” Now, you know what strikes me about that? What you just heard, what you say every day to your friends, is what we all talk about amongst ourselves. A member of Congress finally starts talking about this stuff, and why, why, it blows the roof off the place! “Why, we never heard this kind of talk in here before.” There’s only one thing I would disagree with.

I know the point he was trying to make and I understand why he said that there’s no red jobs or blue jobs or whatever. But the bottom line here is that we are in this mess because a particular ideology has taken us in this direction and delivered us here — with the assistance of Republicans by not stopping it, by not trying to stop it even in some cases. That is Congressman Mike Kelly (Republican-Pennsylvania).